Queen's Cross Housing Association

Driven by their values of respect, integrity and aspiration, Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA) provides excellent housing in vibrant communities.
The Queens Cross Group includes a Registered Social Landlord service, a property management subsidiary (Queens Cross Factoring) and a social enterprise that lets out commercial properties (Queens Cross Workspace).
Challenge
Recognised for its innovation, quality services and high performance, QCHA wanted to appoint two new roles: a Director of Property & Placemaking, and a Director of Neighbourhood Services.
Eden Scott was appointed to conduct a full executive search and selection process for both appointments. Both positions had their own unique challenges – we needed to identify candidates not only candidates with the requisite technical skillsets but also excellent soft skills to lead the strategic direction of the organisation and their respective teams.
Process
Iain Atkinson, Director for Property & Construction at Eden Scott, met with Shona Stephen, Chief Executive at QCHA, and representatives from the Human Resources team to discuss the requirements of each role. The discussion included a tour of the housing stock throughout the Northwest of Glasgow, visiting properties and new sites earmarked for development.
Eden Scott worked with the QCHA team to devise a multifaceted approach to market mapping and headhunting. Our market mapping exercise was extensive, targeting prospective candidates within comparable roles throughout Scotland.
Working in partnership with the Eden Scott marketing team, we advertised the roles nationally through trade publication Inside Housing and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. This ensured we reached a large but targeted candidate pool.
We compiled a strong shortlist of candidates for both roles, who we invited to an assessment centre prior to a panel interview. Eden Scott ran the in-person assessment centre in collaboration with QCHA. It included psychometric testing, a group discussion, a presentation and a competency-based interview. We presented our findings to the panel ahead of the final interview.
Success
Following the extensive search and selection process, we successfully appointed candidates for both positions. Eden Scott supported both candidates through to onboarding.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the best talent in the marketplace led to the success of the project. We have no doubt that both candidates will make a significant impact on QCHA and their tenants moving forward.